A conventional glass-plate working apparatus is so arranged that an upper surface of a glass plate is sucked under a vacuum by a vacuum suction unit and is thereby held, the glass plate thus held is raised by an air cylinder unit, and this glass plate is moved in one direction so as to be carried into and out from a work section.
However, in a case where the glass plate is worked by using the above-described glass-plate working apparatus, since the upper surface of the glass plate is sucked under a vacuum by the vacuum suction unit and is thereby held, there is the possibility of the glass plate dropping down when the glass plate with its upper surface sucked is raised by the air cylinder unit.
In addition, in the case of working a glass plate whose upper surface is coated, since the upper surface (hereafter referred to as the coated surface) of the glass plate is sucked under a vacuum by the vacuum suction unit and is thereby held, a powerful suction force is applied to the coated surface of that glass plate. Accordingly, there is the possibility of damage or the like being caused to the coated surface of the glass plate.
The present invention has been devised in view of the above-described circumstances, and its object is to provide a method of and an apparatus for working a glass plate which makes it possible to prevent the dropping of the glass plate at the time of the carrying in and out of the glass plate, and which make it possible to prevent damage or the like from being caused to the coated surface at the time of working the glass plate whose upper surface is coated.